Free Republic

President Biden’s unraveling of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy already is well underway, but a prominent elder statesmen is advising him to uphold his predecessor’s “brilliant” realignment of the region’s politics.Henry Kissinger, who was secretary of state under the Nixon and Ford administrations, praised Trump administration’s strategy of pitting major Sunni Muslim countries against Iran’s Shiite mullah-led regime, the Washington Free Beacon reported.“I think that one of the great successes of the previous administration was that they had lined up, that they had achieved two things in the Middle East,” Kissinger said Tuesday during the first seminar of a...

For all you end times lovers of bible prophecy, what is happening right now on the ground in Iraq, in Ur of the Chaldees, is a stunning fulfillment of 2,000 year old words spoken by the prophets and apostles for us who are alive right now in these last days. If you were waiting for “something to start”, you’re about a year too late, it’s not only begun but for us who are saved, will soon be over. Flight #777 beckons, is your seat book for the coming trip to the clouds? Now let’s get the update on Chrislam in...

Answering questions from his audience on Zoom at a Likud event on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of two reasons four Arab states normalized ties with Israel in the past year, and more want to join them: the economic advantages of cooperating, and shared security aims. Netanyahu referred to his 2015 speech before both houses of the US Congress against the Iran deal: “During the speech, during the live broadcast, senior people from the Arab world called my people – I was still speaking – and they said: ‘We cannot believe what we are seeing... the daring of the...

We may be witnessing a major realignment of the Middle East. I was Googling around the other day for a factoid: how many Israelis had visited the United Arab Emirates since the signing of their normalization agreement, known as the Abraham Accords. Answer: more than 130,000.Jumping Jehoshaphat, Batman! In the middle of a global pandemic, at least 130,000 Israeli tourists and investors have flown to Dubai and Abu Dhabi since commercial air travel was established in mid-October!I believed from the start that the openings between Israel and the U.A.E., Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — forged by Jared Kushner and Donald...

A venture capitalist and political fundraiser was sentenced today to 144 months in federal prison for falsifying records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials, evading the payment of millions of dollars in taxes, making illegal campaign contributions, and obstructing a federal investigation into the source of donations to a presidential inauguration committee.Imaad Shah Zuberi, 50, of Arcadia, California, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, who also ordered him to pay $15,705,080 in restitution and a criminal fine of $1.75 million.In November 2019, Zuberi pleaded guilty to a three-count information...

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article first appeared on JNS. Israel recently signed agreements establishing relations with four Muslim nations: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Both good and bad news surround this development. The bad news is bland and predictable: a permanent peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors is, according to Islamic law, or sharia, impossible: any land that was once part of Dar al-Islam—that is, any land that was ever conquered by Muslims for any length of time—is always part of Islam and must be recovered by...

Secretary General. Joined by 34 other countries, the document enshrines the Trump administration’s pro-life diplomacy on the official record of the General Assembly. “The United States strongly supports the dignity of all human beings and protecting life from the moment of conception throughout the lifespan,” Ambassador Kelly Craft wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres transmitting the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. Following the letter, the declaration was issued as an official document of the United Nations last week and circulated on December 11, after having been translated into all six official UN languages....

Mike Pence will skip the country as soon as he formally confirms Joe Biden's victory on January 6 with week-long foreign tour to avoid face-to-face confrontation with Donald Trump and angry supporters. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to leave the country on a week-long world tour, directly after he formally confirms President-elect Joe Biden's victory on the House floor on January 6. Politico reported Thursday that Pence is eyeing a trip abroad that week that would take him to Bahrain, Israel and Poland, though the trip hasn't been officially confirmed. 'I suspect the timing is anything but coincidental,' a...

The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that their security would improve against the ongoing threats they face from Turkey and Iran. Iran and its proxies interfere with Arab states while promoting their Shi’ite revolutionary ideology; likewise, Turkey pushes its Sunni revolutionary ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region. Turkey and Iran look to overthrow the Sunni Arab states that do not align with them, such as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The normalization deals between the...

President Donald Trump has laid the groundwork for yet another historic Middle East deal with Israel, a monumental deal that would cement his reputation as the president who brought peace and realignment to the notoriously unstable region. It seems that Saudi Arabia, the largest, richest, and most symbolically important Arab country in the Middle East, is on the verge of recognizing the Jewish State of Israel. Yet, according to the Jerusalem Post, the head of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad has said that Saudi Arabia is waiting until the U.S. presidential election to normalize relations with Israel. Mossad Director Yossi Cohen...

President Trump announced a new peace deal in the Middle East on Friday that would normalize ties between Israel and Sudan. Sudan joins Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who announced similar historic peace agreements that involve establishing embassies, exchanging ambassadors, and beginning to work together as partners. Sudan, according to the President, has demonstrated a commitment to combating terrorism and would pay $335 million in compensation to victims of terror. “Three months ago, no one thought this was possible. Even Bibi didn’t know if this was possible, right Bibi?” Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The New York Post reports that two military veterans walked out of a private meeting with Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this week after the freshman congresswoman began bashing US foreign policy. However, AOC's office claims the two men are lying. “She knocks the country, she knocks the president. And that’s not what America is about,” Silvio Mazzella, a Vietnam War veteran and treasurer of Community Board 11, told the New York Post.Another veteran, "Anthony Vitaliano — an Army veteran who worked in the NYPD for 38 years, and commanded the Bronx’s homicide detectives," was sitting right next to the congresswoman...

And why the political elites hate America's president so much. “This is one of the great days in the history of Sudan,” President Trump declared Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added: “Today, Khartoum is saying yes to peace with Israel, yes to recognition of Israel and yes to normalization with Israel. This is a new era, an era of true peace — peace that is proceeding and widening with additional Arab countries. Three in the last few weeks.” It is indeed a new era. Could it even mark the end of the modern era of jihad? In September, when...

The power shift in the Middle East over the past several years has reshaped the political challenges facing several of its constituent countries, and has led them to consider a possible expansion of their framework of relations. Considering Turkey’s repeated interventions in the affairs of more than one state and the potential threat its ambitions pose to the region’s future, the strategic interests of Israel and many Arab countries—especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia—necessitate a strengthening of relations among countries that can offset Ankara’s aggression. Advertisement Greece is perhaps uniquely suited to assist in this cooperation. Jerusalem boosted its ties...

Israeli officials believe Oman is next in line to normalize relations with Israel in the near future, following the Jewish state’s blitz of deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and most recently Sudan, according to a report Saturday. Channel 12 said sources in the government claimed an announcement was even potentially possible before the US presidential election on November 3rd, though they stressed it could take more time, as Muscat would likely wait to see where political winds are blowing in Washington before making any major decisions... Meanwhile, Channel 12 also reported that Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen has stated...

President Donald Trump announced Friday that Sudan will start to normalize ties with Israel, making it the third Arab state to do so as part of U.S.-brokered deals in the run-up to Election Day. The deal, which would deepen Sudan’s engagement with the West, follows Trump's conditional agreement this week to remove the North African nation from the list of state sponsors of terrorism if it pays compensation to American victims of terror attacks. It also delivers a foreign policy achievement for Trump just days before the U.S. election and boosts his embattled ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Recently,...

Sudan is to normalise relations with Israel, US President Donald Trump says - the latest in a series of Arab League countries to do so. There had been growing speculation Sudan would announce ties in return for being removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Sudan had been a foe of Israel since the latter's founding in 1948. It comes weeks after similar moves by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain. The two Gulf states became the first in the Middle East to recognise Israel in 26 years. Jordan signed a peace deal with Israel in...

Coronavirus restrictions in the USA regarding business occupancy are not being made more strict in the days ahead of the election but there are some exceptions in three localities...... The Facebook censorship picking up steam with the banning of Peoples Rights and activists like Ammon Bundy reported to number in the hundreds... Peoples Rights supporting students at the middle and high schools in Sandpoint, Idaho who are walking out or planning to walk out over mandates to wear masks-muzzles... A protest against Twitter censorship by President Trump's supporters in San Francisco came under attack from left-wing groups with injuries reported.......

A recent study conducted by the Jewish Electorate Institute found that 67% of American Jewish respondents planned to vote for Joe Biden and 30% for President Trump. Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed claimed to be pro-Israel and 64% said Israel is an important election issue. Most ranked Biden higher on U.S.-Israel relations, the handling of anti-Semitism, and ensuring the security of the Jewish community. The survey results are surprising, given Trump’s stellar record on Jews and Israel. American Jews must reconsider, for Biden’s record and positions on critical topics belie these perceptions. Record on IsraelBiden’s record should dispel any notions...

A joint American-Israeli delegation landed in Bahrain Sunday, where officials will be signing a number of bilateral agreements following an announcement last month to normalize relations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, led the delegation that flew out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday morning. Ben-Shabbat said ahead of departure the visit will ‘translate plans to actions and concrete agreements’ with the signing of a range of deals involving finance, investment, trade, tourism, communications, technology and agriculture.